Impeded

 

     The past 10 days, and it seems at least several to come have been a really annoying time for me.  Apparently this changing weather has had a direct impact on my internet service.  It sounded completely ridiculous the first time I heard the people at the cable company tell me this, but I cannot deny the evidence.  When the weather starts getting cold my services start to systematically cut out, starting with the phone, then the internet, and finally my cable TV.  Once they cut out, the service usually stays offline all night until the morning sun warms things back up again.

     This is not the first time this has happened.  Back when Hurricane Irene skirted the east coast, it began.  It was a very frustrating two weeks.  I kept calling the cable company over and over, and they wouldn’t believe my problem, because everytime they sent someone to my house, everything was working.  Yet, every night, about 10:30 the services began to die, one by one.  Finally they sent someone to adjust my signal and things seemed to be working again.  When it started happening again, I was less than amused.  That was just over a week ago.  The only difference is, that this time, they actually sent someone to check on things when it was actually happening.  For the first time, they believed what I was saying, that indeed the whole thing just dies for no reason.  More than one person I talked to said this is a common problem when the weather starts to change.  I don’t know much about cable technology so I’ll just have to take their word for it.

     When it was all said and done, they scheduled for me to have all new lines dropped to my home.  It’s been four days since I have had this set up and still I have seen no crews to fix this mess.  Last night I came home from work, with an already rapidly decreasing temperature outside, to find that my cable services were already out, instead of the normal 8 or so they had been.  Needless to say, my mood was immediately agitated.  I once again called my cable service and tried to find out what the hell was going on.  It seems like each time I get a new customer service person, they have a different story to tell me.  This time the story I got, was that it could take up to a week from the scheduled date to get the crew working on my order.  That day was Monday.  So it could easily be up to sometime in the first week of December before I get my stuff fixed.  This was a completely different story than my last representative told me;  My lines should be dropped by Monday (was told to me last Friday).

     With a string of cold days ahead in the forecast, this pretty much means I have no chance of any kind of net interaction for… who knows how many days to come.  The prospect of that many days without the web, or seeing my friends in IRC is frankly, maddening.  My only solace (and who knows if I wasn’t just lied to again) is that the last customer service rep.  said she flagged my job to be expedited.  I really hope that means that I will see someone working outside within the next 24 hours but I’m not going to hold my breath.  I imagine it will just be sometime before next Monday, who knows.  I swear, if TWC had some competition in my town I would be making a beeline to them.  I have had about enough of dealing with their poor service.  They can boast all the speed in the world but it doesn’t mean crap if I can’t even get service.

     I can’t really do much else with my lack of services, so I have been digging up my RP logs and just working on my stories.  At least I can get something accomplished in the wake of this annoyance.  Still, I really miss my friends and the Loft…

A Typical Night

Normal night for me online.  RP in one window, logs in another, writing in a third, and music in the background.

The Standing of Things - Part 2

     I have been so busy lately!  Between writing, keeping up with multiple role playing arcs and coming up with new material, I keep a pretty full plate.  Still, I feel so incredibly dynamic from all this creative energy I'm drawing up.  I have to hand it to all that I've experienced over the last month, it has turned me into a determined storyteller.  And I plan to keep delivering, as long as it's well met.  I really do need to get around to working on my artwork though.  That's a medium I have a strong desire to do stuff with.  Hopefully if I get a new computer in the next couple months, I'll have something that can help me accomplish this goal.

     In the RP, Moonlight Ballad has actually been on a side arc, for the last week or so.  It is an interesting twist of events that hopefully my stories will catch up to, eventually.  The side arc in itself , which is a multi-media RP, carrying parts over into the Tumblr blogs, is already the staging of a sequel series.  I'm also collecting one-shot adventures or Moonlight with a lot of the other ponies, mostly one on one plays, as I get time.  I felt like it would be a good way to get to know them better and help us all with character building.  It's been most enjoyable in the few times I've done so far.

     The side story, a duo arc between Moonlight and Lyra, is nearing its completion, and leaves behind a trail of awesome memories. It was so worth it.  I'm about ready to return to the Loft though, I think we both are.  Adventures are always fun, but it's nice to come home.  Things have gotten pretty wild in there lately.  I almost feel bad to have missed some of it.  This is mainly because I can't interact, for sake of continuity.  Obviously if Moonlight's away on a journey, it would be hard to explain why he is in the room.  Usually I've been just lurking in the out of character room, so I can at least chat with folks.

     *sighs*  So much to do yet.  More characters, more stories, more craziness.  It's been a bit chaotic in the Loft lately (haha what else is new).  I need to get Moonlight home and bring some stability back.  Sometimes I feel like a big brother figure in there.  I guess that's the old man in me coming out, I don't know, but I don't mind that either.  I really love the feeling of being needed.  It gives me a sense of purpose and compassion that really drives me forward.  And, we have drama;  What family doesn't?  But, at the end of the day, we're always there for each other.  That's what family's for, right?   Best... RP... EVER!

     

    

What I Did for Nightmare Night

I know it's week late and non pony, but I had fun regardless.  The weekend of Nightmare Night, of course began with another shot of the awesome Luna Eclipsed episode.  (ok some pony).

Later in the day my friends threw a huge costume party.  Because my friends and I all went in our uniforms to show off our stuff, we were the guest judges.

That's me in the navy.  I'm part of a non-profit Ghostbusters franchise.  It's a lot of fun.

After the judging, it was time to pull out the rock band.  I love the keytar controller ^^

Yeah I'm a freaking dork.  But I had a lot of fun.
I actually took it easy this time around.  The last party I went to I got layed out after 36 shots of various things, toasting "For the glory of Equestria!"

The Stage is Set

     I've certainly taken up my set of challenges, lately.  As to my main story, I haven't stopped writing it.  I just get a little bogged down, from time to time.  Combing through 30-40 page long logs of RP can give a guy tunnel vision after a while.  I'm still satisfied with the results though.  Currently I'm working on Chapter 3.  I have a feeling that this one is going to be HUGE by the time I finish it.  I'm enjoying writing it though.

     The actual Luna's Loft has been kind of slow lately.  I partly blame myself for that.  LyricalLyra and I kind of needed a breather from all the chaos.  Yeah it's amusing in small doses, but speaking for at least myself, I go to the Loft to relax and forget some of the chaos and drama that already exists in my daily life.  Filling my recreation with it, kind of disheartens me a little bit.  I'm not sure if that was entirely Lyra's motivation, but she took a break from the main RP (went on a journey), and I followed suit (went with her), only because it was what Moonlight would have done... period.  We've split into a side RP, just the two of us, reflecting the pair's adventure across Equestria.  I plan to write more on that as well, once we get the arc finished.  Then the characters will return to the main group.  I'm a little iffy on doing this whole thing -- not the actual adventure. I'm looking forward to that, but the effect it is having on the group.  It feels like some of the others are genuinely upset that we left, and it kind of tugs on my heart a little bit.  I care more than I let on, sometimes.  It's like my exile from a couple weeks ago.  I'm missing them...really.  At least this time, I have someone to share my experience with, and I have no doubt that a wonderful set of tales will come of it.  Hopefully the ends will justify the means here.

     Before I "left", I cranked out a short story in 24 hours for a performance I had to do.  I was flipping out, trying to get it finished.  Funny though,  The moment I added music to it, as I was writing... it suddenly flowed right out of me.  I used the same songs as background setting for when I told it in the RP.  It went way better than I expected.  I should have thought of that from the start.  Music has always been one of my driving forces.

The Challenges of Authors

     I've been writing more of chapter two since I got up today, and I still have a ton to go.  I've learned a few things about this type of writing.

1.  Roleplaying is easy.
2.  Roleplaying shipping is manageable if you do it right.  (and I do it right.)
3.  Trying to convert a roleplaying chat log, complete with multiple story arcs, shipping, and lots of completely random off the wall events is HARD!

     In the beginning I thought it would be just a simple matter of transcribing and putting in some filler.  The reality of the matter is that, for it to be an acceptable story format, it must be transcribed, translated, edited, some of the chronology needs to be rearranged, and certain things need to be outright omitted.  In addition, the term "filler" seems weakly appropriate at best.  Every interaction, within the roleplay must also be narrated, so in truth, even the parts of the log that I actually do use, require about twice as much writing to set the scene properly.

     I'm not saying that I'm unhappy with this project.  Far from it.  It's just taking me a lot longer than I had anticipated.  Even having had all day off to work, I still have at good dozen pages left to write, minimum, and I'm only on 2/3 logs complete of the relevant material for this chapter.

     My respect for people that do this for a living only continues to grow.